Berlin’s police chief Barbara Slowik considers certain districts of the German capital to be too unsafe for Jews and homosexuals, warning them to avoid parts of the city.
While she claims that there are ‘no no-go areas,’
there are areas—and we have to be so honest at this point—where I would advise people who wear kippahs or are openly gay or lesbian to be more attentive … Unfortunately, there are certain neighbourhoods in which the majority of people of Arab origin live who also have sympathies for terrorist groups. Open hostility towards Jews is articulated there against people of Jewish faith and origin.
By admitting parts of the capital are unsafe for ‘openly gay’ and Jewish people, the operational leader of the local police is, in effect, admitting she has lost control of her city.
Since the Hamas terror pogrom of October 7th last year, German police started more than 6,200 investigations into antisemitism and incitement to hatred. While a large proportion of the investigations relate to online postings and property damage, some 1,300 acts of violence are under investigation, mostly from clashes with police officers during demonstrations.
Slowik is reluctant to admit to there being any overall pattern to the ongoing recent incidents, which include a Molotov cocktail attack on a synagogue and mob violence directed at young Jewish footballers, Yet an emerging consensus suggests that violence in the capital is getting worse. Recent research shows Germany to be the third worst European country for recorded physical and digital antisemitic incidents.
As the Jewish community website y net.news observes
Once regarded as a bastion of inclusivity and cosmopolitan culture, Berlin is increasingly reflecting broader trends sweeping Germany: rising radicalisation among Muslim migrants, a political shift to the right and heightened antisemitism and fear of violence.
Berlin’s Neukölln district is well-known for hosting lesbian and gay nightlife. It is also the Berlin district with the largest Arab population. Recent years have seen an increasingly uneasy relationship between the two groups, including several violent incidents.
Picked up across multiple news outlets, Slowik’s comments in the Berliner Zeitung prompted country-wide debate about the state of public safety in Berlin.
